Visa Limbo

Was not given a visa extension & was not told why specifically. Before, I was able to get Vietnam visa extensions since 2012 as an American in Vietnam. In December 2015, I tried to extend my visa a third time but was denied. Travel agencies did not tell me what the problems were. I went to different agencies and to people and lawyers in Saigon. Some people said that I might be on a blacklist or something.

Maybe, the Vietnam government did not like something I said online in a blog or video or something. Maybe I said something bad about Vietnam or communism or something else. I like smaller government. I like less taxes. I might be a bit conservative. Maybe, I was denied a visa extension because of that. Maybe it was political. I have written about my problems before many times on Facebook and Blogger and all over the internet many times these past five or so years until 2017, that is this year. I'm Joey Arnold, the Original Oatmeal of Oregon.

My visa expired on a Wednesday, the ninth or 9th of December 2015, almost 2 years ago, and I was trying to extend my visa like I did before. I went to forums and other places online and read about similar problems expats and foreigners have had with passports and visas and immigration and everything. I think, now, that my problem was simply that my work visa required a work permit within the first 90 days or first nine months or something. Maybe not. I left Vietnam for a second time in March 2015 (went to Cambodia for a visa run) and came back to Vietnam with a work visa. I extended that visa in June and September but then was denied a third VN visa extension in December 2015.

But my problem might have been that I did not get a work permit in time. Maybe, not having a work permit on time or in time disqualifies you from a third extension. I did not want to have a work visa. I am not working. I was not working for companies. But a travel agency or travel company gave me a work visa maybe because it cost more and they love making money and I did not notice it was a work visa when I bought it. That was my mistake, I guess. I asked for a travel agency from them many times but they didn't gave me a work visa instead. I feel they committed a crime in doing that.

I still do not know if that is why I was not able to extend my visa. Some said I was maybe on a blacklist and that scared me from leaving Vietnam to make a new Vietnam visa outside of the Vietnam country like I did two times before in August 2013 and March 2015. I have asked many people about my problems.

When you overstay a visa, you have to pay a late fee for each day you overstay. As I continued to overstay my visa in Vietnam at the end of 2015, I was adding debt to my life. It was very tough and very sad. The longer I waited, the more it would cost at the border if I tried to leave Vietnam. One man was held captive in North Korea. In 2017, that man was returned to his home in the United States (USA), that was this year, but he died a few days later. I feel that maybe Vietnam can or could maybe capture me because I overstayed my visa by almost 2 years from 2015 to July 2017 now, so far.

Some said you have to pay $30 USD for each day you overstay a visa in Vietnam. I've been overstaying from 2015 to 2017, almost 2 years now, that means I probably owe the border thousands of dollars or more plus other fees for visas and letters and maybe I will be blacklisted and banned or tortured or I do not know............ I am very scared of how random my judgment and border fate and destiny will be or can be when I try to fix my visa problem for example now in 2017 or in 2018 or someday.........

My goal is to try to save enough money in order to pay the border for overstaying in Vietnam and in order to pay for vetting (acceptance letter) which might help foreigners come to or return to Vietnam or to some countries. Vietnam law seems to say that Vietnamese must sponsor and vet and endorse and verify and certify and confirm and guarantee the foreigners when they come to Vietnam or when they are trying to return to Vietnam or extend their stay in Vietnam or something.

I'm from Oregon, was born 1985, love Vietnam, love Saigon, love the Vietnamese people, and I like to teach English here as a freelance tutor or teacher at houses, schools, clubs, centers, coffee shops, stores, parks, and or wherever from 2012 to 2017, these past five years so far, and I want to continue and I want to live in the USA and I want to live in other countries at the same time.

I will continue to try to figure out how to fix my problems.

I am kind of like in a limbo that prevents me from renting apartment rooms when my visa is expired which hurts my ability to work when I have to like sleep at coffee shops as a homeless person these past two years from the end of 2015 to 2017 so far.

I am scared because I feel that the Vietnam border may not let me come back to Vietnam after I leave maybe because I overstayed my visa for too long or maybe because of other reasons. Maybe, I will be banned and blocked and stopped from returning to Vietnam (VN) for a day, week, month, year, maybe for the next five years, or maybe forever. Maybe I will be given or maybe already have an eternal ban.

So, I want to have some kind of backup plan in case I cannot return to Vietnam.

I am in Saigon, Vietnam right now still in 2017.

I talked to travel agencies, the USA embassy, to family, friends, in different countries, in the USA. in Vietnam, and I even went to the Vietnam police department or immigration department in Saigon on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street. They told me to leave Vietnam but would not tell me why I was not able to extend my visa. I was told that I would be able to extend my visa before. I have extended my other visas 3 or 5 times before.

If you have questions or advice, please leave them in the comments below.

2017-07-30 Sunday 2 PM MD NH Q1 HCM VN JOSEPH SCOTT ARNOLD RASP OF OREGON SAIGON ORIGINAL OATMEAL L4OJ WOLBI TSA WOL L4 L4OJ L4OJSA OJAWALL Joey Arnold Oatmeal